Contra dance is a form of folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th century. Sometimes described as New England folk dance or Appalachian folk dance, contra dances can be found around the world, but are most common in the United States, Canada, and other Anglophone countries.
The Donegal fiddle tradition is the way of playing the fiddle that is traditional in County Donegal, Ireland. It is one of the distinct fiddle traditions within Irish traditional music.
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a "brighter" tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (folk) styles, which are typically aural traditions—taught "by ear" rather than via written music.
The jig is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It first gained popularity in 16th-century England, Ireland, Scotland, and other parts of the British Isles, and was adopted on mainland Europe where it eventually became the final movement of the mature Baroque dance suite. Today it is most associated with Irish dance music, Scottish country dance and the Métis people in Canada. Jigs were originally in quadruple compound metre,, but have been adapted to a variety of time signatures, by which they are often classified into groups, including double jigs, slip jigs and single jigs.
Irish dance refers to a group of traditional dance forms that originate in Ireland, encompassing dancing both solo and in groups, and dancing for social, competitive, and performance purposes. Irish dance in its current form developed from various influences such as earlier native Irish dance, English country dancing and later possibly French quadrilles, as it became popular in Britain and Ireland during the 19th century. Dance was taught by "travelling dance masters" across Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries, and separate dance forms developed according to regional practice and differing purposes. Irish dance became a significant part of Irish culture, particularly for Irish nationalist movements. From the early 20th century, a number of organisations promoted and codified the various forms of dance, creating competitive structures and standardised styles. Irish dancers who compete for competitive reasons dance in a dance style that is more modern than traditional Irish dance. It is mainly done solo, but there is some team dancing in groups of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 16 and even numbers onwards.
The hornpipe is any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The earliest references to hornpipes are from England, with Hugh Aston's Hornepype of 1522 and others referring to Lancashire hornpipes in 1609 and 1613.
Step dance is a generic term for dance styles in which footwork is considered to be the most important part of the dance and limb movements and styling are either restricted or considered irrelevant.
Slip jig refers to both a style within Irish music, and the Irish dance to music in slip-jig time. The slip jig is in 9
8 time, traditionally with accents on 5 of the 9 beats — two pairs of crotchet/quaver followed by a dotted crotchet note.
Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. The more predominant style in Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were primarily from Gaelic-speaking regions in the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. Although fiddling has changed considerably since this time in Scotland, it is widely held that the tradition of Scottish fiddle music has been better preserved in Cape Breton. While there is a similar tradition from the Irish-style fiddling, that style is largely overlooked as a result of the strong Scottish presence in the area.
Celtic music is primarily associated with the folk traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture. In addition, a number of other areas of the world are known for the use of Celtic musical styles and techniques, including Newfoundland, and much of the folk music of Canada's Maritimes, especially on Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island.
Pibroch, piobaireachd or ceòl mòr is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations. Strictly meaning 'piping' in Scottish Gaelic, piobaireachd has for some four centuries been music of the great Highland bagpipe.
The fiddle is one of the most important instruments in the traditional repertoire of Irish traditional music. The fiddle itself is identical to the violin, however it is played differently in widely varying regional styles. In the era of sound recording some regional styles have been transmitted more widely while others have become more uncommon.
Scottish fiddling may be distinguished from other folk fiddling styles by its particular precision of execution and energy in the delivery, for example, the rendering of the dotted-quaver/semi-quaver rhythmic patterns, commonly used in the Strathspey. Christine Martin, in her Traditional Scottish Fiddling players guide, discusses the techniques of "hack bowing", "the Scotch snap", and "snap bowing". These techniques contrast quite sharply with the most common bowing patterns of Irish fiddling. The style has a very large repertoire consisting of a great variation of rhythms and key signatures. There is also a strong link to the playing of traditional Scottish bagpipes which is better known throughout the world.
A gånglåt is a category of Swedish traditional folk music; a fiddle-tune in an easy, 4
4 or 2
4 march meter. The name in Swedish means "walking tune", and the traditional tempo is that of a stately walk. Not to be referred to/or confused with a march when this is spoken of in Swedish in the traditional genre. A gånglåt resembles a slow Irish reel in structure, with two 16-bar strains, each repeated twice, in the form AABB. Often the second A and B differs slightly in the end compared to the first instance.
Irish traditional music is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
American fiddle-playing began with the early European settlers, who found that the small viol family of instruments were more portable and rugged than other instruments of the period. According to Ron Yule, "John Utie, a 1620 immigrant, settled in the North and is credited as being the first known fiddler on American soil". Early influences were Irish, Scottish, and English fiddle styles, as well as the more upper-class traditions of classical violin playing. Popular tunes included "Soldier's Joy", for which Robert Burns wrote lyrics, and other tunes such as "Flowers of Edinburgh" and "Tamlin," which have both been claimed by both Scottish and Irish lineages.
"Haste to the Wedding" is a jig tune in the English, Scottish and Irish musical traditions. The tune originated during the 18th century, although its original composer is not certain. Written in the standard 8-bar AABB format of Gaelic music, it is traditionally performed on the fiddle, but is a simple tune which can be performed on a variety of instruments, and is frequently adapted for session music. The tune has also been used as the basis for songs, and as musical accompaniment for ceili dances of the same name.
Canadian fiddle is the aggregate body of tunes, styles and musicians engaging the traditional folk music of Canada on the fiddle. It is an integral extension of the Anglo-Celtic and Québécois French folk music tradition but has distinct features found only in the Western hemisphere.
Métis fiddle is the style that the Métis of Canada and Métis in the northern United States have developed to play the violin, solo and in folk ensembles. It is marked by the percussive use of the bow and percussive accompaniment. The Metis people are a poly-ethnic post-contact Indigenous peoples. Fiddles were "introduced in this area by Scottish and French-Canadian fur traders in the early 1800s", where the Metis community adopted the instrument into their culture.
Cajun fiddle music is a part of the American fiddle music canon. It is derived from the music of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas, as well as sharing repertoire from the Quebec and Cape Breton Island traditions. It is one of the few extant North American folk music traditions rooted in French chanson. According to Ron Yule, "Louisiana fiddling had its birth roots in Europe, with fiddling being noted as early as the 1400s in Scotland". Zydeco music is a geographically, culturally, and musically related style.
